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Pan-European International Bollywood Blogger Meeting! Finally!

Ohmigod! The madness is fully underway. And y and z are reversed on German-language keyboards, so please excuse typos more than usual.

Last night at dinner, the owner of the restaurant (called Bollywood, of course) made us put in someone's ipod and dance. As usual, the Europeans make me do things I wouldn't necessarily do. There's even photoraphic evidence, which perhaps will never surface....

So. What can I tell you about the events so far? Thursday night we played Bollywood SingStar at Kaddele's restaurant. The playback industry can rest easy knowing that we're not going to give them a run for their contracts any time soon. Friday people descended upon München for lunch and then more chatting and preparatory projects (decorations for tonight's dinner tables and props for the liveblogging film) at "the Bollywood flat" where nine of us are staying. There are at least 30 people here this afternoon, from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, the UK, and the US. Bunty aur Babli has begun, huzzah!

Dhadak Dhadak!

You can follow what Kaddele, Michael (who has pictures up already, heaven help us), Maria, Marco, und Babasko have to say. I love this movie. So charming and funny and sweet. But it's good to realize how horrible Rakesh is to his parents and how obstinate Vimmi is before they meet cute and develop their new plans. It's hard not to root for them from the start, but they don't quite deserve our love until later, do they?

We're now at the bit when they've gotten on the pink bus and with each of Babli's slaps the shouting sound effect comes on. So fab. This is one of my favorite films but I haven't seen it in ages, and there is so much to catch. All the music references in the hotel with Q Q Qureshi, for example.

"Who are you to do? Babli will." That's a bit how I feel too - Beth at home rarely dances at restaurants.

For the record, Michael has accused me of "flipping aus" at half-naked men, but really it was for the appearance of Rani.

Title song! Dance break!

I loooove when Rani cries just like I Love Lucy. "I'm missing her, not laying an egg."

Much hooting from the audience before "Chup Chupke" and its übercuteness. Kaddele and I are acting out the song using gummi bears. (Gummi candies are huge here. There must have been 30 kinds of Haribo at the grocery store.)

Uh-oh. The DVD is stuck. Kaddele and I are to the rescue using our character stick puppets (you can see pictures on the other blogs) to act out key dramatic moments. Yet another performance career I will not be called in for further duty.